The crogel, a hybrid of the croissant and the bagel / Stew Leonard's

by Jolie Lee, USA TODAY Network

by Jolie Lee, USA TODAY Network

Ever had a craving for a croissant and a bagel, but couldn't decide which to choose? Well, now you're in luck.

Meet the crogel, available at a Connecticut grocery store, and the cragel, sold at a New York City bakery. Both are croissant-bagel combinations.

The crogel was introduced last week at the Norwalk, Conn., location of Stew Leonard's chain of four grocery stores. The store sold 1,000 crogels within a few days, said Stew Leonard Jr., president and CEO of the company.

"So far, it looks like it's going to be more popular than the cro-do," the store's version of the cronut, Leonard told USA TODAY Network. Cronuts, which started the trend of hybrid croissant pastries, combine donuts and croissants. The original cronut was created at the Dominique Ansel Bakery in New York City last May.

The crogel builds on people's love of croissants and is the brainchild of Stew Leonard's baker, Tania Portela, Leonard said.

To make the crogel, bakers shape croissant dough into the size of a bagel, kettle boil the dough and then bake it in a hearth. Leonard calls the crogel "healthier" than a cronut because it's not fried.

The pastry is buttery and flaky on the inside, according to the store's Facebook page.

The crogel costs $3.99 for a pack of two and comes in three flavors - plain, sesame and multigrain, with more flavors possibly to come.

Then there's the cragel, different from the crogel in that croissant dough and bagel dough are intertwined. Sold at The Bagel Store's two locations in Brooklyn, the cragel was a concept owner Scot Rossillo came up with years ago. But he didn't feel the time was right for the cragel until now.

"The cronut came out last year and it helped to push the whole hybrid thing," Rossillo told USA TODAY Network.

Rossillo said it took nine months to develop the recipe and the final product "happily marries" the croissant and the bagel.

And you don't have to live in Brooklyn to enjoy the cragel. It can now be purchased online, Rossillo said.